Does Your Favorite Presidential Candidate Make the Grade?

As
the Presidential race kicks into high gear, voters are evaluating how
candidates will tackle tough issues on foreign and domestic policy.
Let’s hope they don’t overlook topics relating to online privacy and
security. A recent Pew Research Center
survey indicates that 74% of American believe control over personal
information is “very important,” yet only 9% believe they have such
control.

The Online Trust Alliance (OTA) recently looked at
twenty-three candidates’ websites to determine how they are managing
voters’ privacy and security concerns.

What we found might be
surprising. Of the twenty-three candidates’ sites reviewed, only 6
received a “passing” grade on the three areas scored – privacy, security
and consumer protection. Those 6 candidates also made the “Honor Roll”
for their data stewardship while the rest (17) received a failing
grade, primarily for their privacy policies. Most candidates had clear
privacy policies in place but 4 didn’t have a discoverable policy so
there is no way to know what happens to ones data. Voters should also
take notice that when they sign-up to support or make a donation to a
candidate, that information can also be shared or sold to other
like-minded organizations. While this may be standard operating
procedure among political candidates the question has to be asked why
politicians aren’t held to the same standards as e-commerce websites
that must adhere to Fair Information Practice Principles, clearly stating the use, sharing and retention of data.

OTA recommends that candidates’ adhere to the following best practices:

Have a privacy policy that is short, less than 500 words, is multi-lingual, layered and is written for consumers not lawyers

Make privacy policy accessible via a link on the footer of every page, date stamped with archived updates

Restrict data sharing to only third parties necessary to support your campaign

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